Celebrity Dad Watch: John Mellencamp Missed the Red Flags

John Mellencamp’s two sons (ages 18 and 19), Hud and Speck,
are in some big trouble. The sons of the
man who sang the famous lyric, “I fought authority, authority always wins,” are
about to face the authorities, themselves. Charged with the brutal July 29th beating
of an Indiana man (a felony, yikes!), the two youngest Mellencamps are in some
serious hot water.

At first glance, the story seems like a case of hot tempers
gone awry. According to the Mellencamp
kids, the beatdown was retaliation after one of the boys was sucker-punched
previously that night. But considering Hud Mellencamp is also a boxer who won Indiana Golden Gloves boxing titles, it hardly seems a fair
fight.

Worse yet, John Mellencamp himself appeared on The David Letterman Show just this past
June sporting a black eye that he said he received because, “I had words with
my son. He got a punch in and I didn’t.” Clearly, at least one of the boys is
more than just a one-time hothead—he’s got some anger management issues. From the outside looking in, it seems John Mellencamp and the boys’ mom, Elaine Irwin, ignored some serious red flags.

Are we raising our kids with rose-colored glasses?

Modern-day parents are a proud bunch.
Whether we’re Instagramming everything our kids do from the minute they wake up
until they go to sleep, or boasting about our kids' latest accomplishments—bragging
about our kids is the new black. But
does all this attention on our kids make it harder for us to see, and admit,
when they are doing something not so stellar? Are we raising our kids with rose-colored glasses? Because avoiding the
truth about our kids does nothing to help them. And actually, it really hurts
them.

So if your kid has a problem, admit it. It’s our job as parents to be proud and
supportive, but it’s also our job to be honest. That means taking off the
rose-colored glasses and admitting our kids’ strengths and weaknesses. And yes, our kids do have weaknesses. See, that wasn’t so tough to admit now, was
it?